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"What may seem easy to an installer or a
contractor may not be easy for an employee
in a commercial space or a home user."
Sahaj Cheema, Director of Product
Management, Inspire
Sahaj is a product leader with extensive
experience in creating innovative new
products and services. She has led cross
functional teams of engineers, designers,
researchers and product managers to
manifest ideas into customer focussed
solutions. With a versatile background
in technology, strategy, design thinking,
customer research and product
management, she has an excellent track
record in championing effective teams
and transforming consumers lives through
empathic technology.
Sahaj Cheema, director of Product Management at Inspire, sees two big challenges
that Internet of Things (IoT) developers face when designing products for use in
smart buildings:
Lack of communication standards. Designers must decide which
communications protocol their device will use. The most common choices
are Z-Wave, Zigbee, Sub GHz, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, but as Cheema notes,
"No communication standard has been widely accepted for devices used in
commercial buildings, and residential customers show no strong preference for
one versus another." The choice of protocol can affect whether the device will
work with Apple Siri or Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. It also affects cost and
ease of use. This choice, which depends on what the product will do and how it
will be used, must be made early in product development.
Designing for Ease of Use Is Difficult but
Important
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